Pokémon: Noir
by Royal Karma
Summary: Soon after turning 18, Aaron Noir and his Pawniard leave their hometown to begin their journey throughout the Ovoid region. But between a prick for a rival, an annoying rich girl and an evil gang led by an absolute madman, it quickly becomes apparent that collecting gym badges might just be the least of their concerns.
1. And Away We Go

Pawniard and I covered our ears in an attempt to drown out the loud chatter of the partygoers mixing in with the music. We made our way through the crowd of people to the backdoor, which was not an easy task given since the place was packed and every few seconds I was stopped by someone who wanted to congratulate me or wish me luck. Nice gestures, sure, but being here felt suffocating, and I really needed some fresh air and to get away from all the noise.

After what seemed like forever, we finally made it to the back of the lab. As I stepped outside, the cool breeze of the night instantly erased any tension I felt while inside. As I felt myself unwind, I realized we weren't alone out here. There was an Oranguru sprawled out on the ground relaxing, and a few feet away was a man with a cigarette in his hand, staring at us over his shoulder from where he sat like a Stantler in headlights.

"Hey, Professor," I sighed as I walked over and sat down next to him.

"Hi, Aaron," he muttered sheepishly.

I pointed to the cigarette in his hand. "I'm not going to tell Katherine, but you should really put that out. You know she has some sort of sixth sense when it comes to you and your cigarettes." Oranguru huffed from where he was laying down and shot him a look, as if to say "He's right."

"Yeah, I've been trying to cut down on smoking lately. Kathy doesn't seem to understand it's not easy to just quit all at once," he said as he stomped out the cigarette. "So, what brings you out here? Not enjoying the party?"

"I appreciate what you did for me, don't get me wrong. It's just, parties aren't really my thing, you know?"

"I understand. That's one thing we have in common. And I know a party like this isn't how you imagined your 18th birthday party would go, but you're leaving tomorrow and there are a lot of people who wanted to say bye. And not just the people at the lab." Professor Goji smirked and put his hand to his mouth, only to remember that he had just gotten rid of his cigarette.

"A lot of people got excited when you announced your plan to become a trainer, and you can't really blame them. There aren't many trainers who hail from Dewdrop Town, and even fewer who have had successful careers. Then again, not many towns or cities in Ovoid have had many new trainers lately anyway."

The two of us sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of us really knowing what to say. We'd known each other for years, but now that we were having what would probably be our last real conversation for a while, it was hard to find that perfect thing to say.

It was Professor Goji who broke the silence first. "Sometimes I think about how some of the most seemingly insignificant choices can lead to some of the most unbelievable outcomes."

That was a really weird line to come out of nowhere with.

I looked at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Wha...the day we met of course!" He said, as if that vague statement should have made perfect sense.

"There was always a thought that would nag me in the back of my mind a lot." He sighed and looked up at the sky that was beginning to fill with stars. "The day that I met you, when it was raining really heavy, the only reason I found you was because of Oranguru. But I always wondered how differently our lives would have played out if something had stopped Oranguru from searching for you? What if I had gotten really impatient that day, and had decided to return Oranguru to his pokéball instead of following him through the forest? How different would our lives have been if we had never met each other?"

"I wouldn't worry about the what ifs of that day," I said, staring at the sky. "You can think of all the different possibilities of that day, all the different ways it could have played out, sure. But the fact is that no matter how much you think about it, only one of those many possibilities played out that day, and led you to me. I don't see the point in worrying about something that happened seven years ago."

I watched the gears turn in Professor Goji's head as he thought about that answer for a moment. Then, he let out a yawn and flopped onto his back. "You know, I could never see things from the perspective you always seemed to, Aaron," he said. "Never worrying about the what if, just accepting what is and going from there."

"I've just never felt the need to get worked up over past events. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, really," I said.

"I never said there was anything wrong with the way you think, Aaron. In fact, I think it might just be a good trait to have for a trainer. Which reminds me," he said as he sat back up and looked at me. "If I may ask, why do you want to be a trainer?"

Before I could answer, we heard the back door open again, and we looked up to see Professor Goji's daughter, Katherine, walk outside.

Professor Goji couldn't have looked anymore guilty as he scrambled to his feet. "I-I swear I wasn't smoking again!" He shouted. Oranguru and Pawniard chuckled from where they were laying down.

Katherine raised an eyebrow, but didn't interrogate him about it. "I just wanted to let you guys know that you should probably come inside. We're gonna cut the cake in a few minutes." She kept her skeptical look on her father as she closed the door and disappeared back into the crowd.

As the four of us made our way back towards the party, Professor Goji grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a hug.

"I know you hate doing this in public, so I figured now was the best time," he said.

"I...Yeah," I said, returning the hug. "Thanks."

Not long after the cake was cut, the party began to wind down as people started leaving for the night. Pawniard and I offered to help clean up, but Professor Goji and the assistants all insisted we get to bed instead. They told us we had a big day tomorrow, and we had already been kept up later than we should have been with the party.

After taking a shower and getting ready for bed, I walked into my room and went over what I had put into my bag for what had to be the tenth time this week. It was a special bag that everyone at the lab all chipped in to get me. It was one of those new state of the art bags that used similar technology to the Pokéball so it could store more items.

I had the basic stuff every trainer would need, such as my Pokéballs, Potions and the Pokédex Professor Goji gave to me. There was also a sleeping bag in there as well, but I didn't necessarily plan on using it. I had really only grabbed it as a sort of middle ground to stop Professor Goji and Katherine from buying a collapsible tent for me. I appreciate that they were only trying to look out for me, but sometimes I think they forget that Pawniard and I aren't strangers to roughing it outside when we needed to. Learning how to survive and fend for yourself will do that to you.

The outfit I had chosen to wear for my journey was draped across the back of my chair. A V-neck T-shirt, sweatpants, a zip up hoodie and a cap. All black. The cap wasn't part of the original outfit, but when I first picked out the outfit Katherine made a comment about how it was too dark and that I should wear some brighter colors. So, jokingly, I grabbed a white cap with a black brim as a way to spite her. I didn't plan on keeping it, but it ended up growing on me, so I decided to make it part of my look.

As I held the cap in my hands, remembering the scolding I got from Katherine for being a smartass on the way home from the store, my vision blurred. I didn't even move to wipe the tears from my eyes as the emotions finally hit me. As I finally understood what tomorrow would bring.

Once I leave tomorrow, I wouldn't see Goji, Katherine or any of the other assistants in person for a long time. The thought that the journey I had dreamt of for so long was right around the corner felt so unreal. It wasn't nervousness, don't get me wrong. Pawniard and I have had experience with being out on our own before, and we were never afraid of roughing it outdoors, even after we began living with Professor Goji. I think that feeling was caused more out of eagerness. Because after waiting for so long, Pawniard and I would finally get a shot at what we have always wanted the most: To prove our strength. Not to Professor Goji, or Dewdrop Town, or even to the Ovoid region itself, but to ourselves.

I was snapped out of my own thoughts when I felt a tug at my sleeve. I looked down to see Pawniard looking back up at me, worry filling his eyes.

"Paw...niard?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I sniffled, wiping my face with my sleeve. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Now, let's get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."


	2. Hit the Ground Tripping and Stumbling

When I was younger, I remember people would tell me about how when I grew up and left to go on my journey, I'd come to miss everyone at the lab, and even Dewdrop Town itself, pretty quickly. I never doubted that, of course, but I never fully understood it either. At least, not until I was already a few hours into the first day of my journey, and already I missed Dewdrop Town and the lab like crazy.

Despite the homesickness, I was glad to have Pawniard by my side. Having a close friend with me was comforting, and the scenery did help to calm my nerves.

As the two of us walked through Riverside Path, we made sure to take in as much of the scenery as we could. Sure, we'd been to Riverside Path many times when we were younger, but we had only ever ventured in the more shallower areas of the route, near Dewdrop Town. Now, we were going much deeper, into areas of the route that were new to us. And it was exciting.

Despite the name, Riverside Path wasn't actually one singular path leading from Dewdrop Town all the way to Contival City, where we were headed. It actually consisted of roughly a dozen different pathways. There was the main one, which went straight from Dewdrop to Contival City, and was the quickest way between the two. For trainers, however, there were also the other routes that could be taken. These were all longer routes than the first, but also promised a better chance of finding Pokémon as you ventured through the route. There were even paths that skipped Contival City entirely, and led straight to Vinegrow Forest, although not many trainers take that route since it is very long and without the proper equipment, one could soon find themselves at the mercy of the forest.

The deeper you went, the better the chance of finding a stronger Pokémon. Not that many of the Pokémon in Riverside Path were particularly strong, but they were a good fit for beginning trainers.

Pawniard and I were taking one of the longer paths through the route. We were on the lookout for any promising Pokémon to add to our team, since we wanted to be ready for our first gym battle. Most of the Pokémon we had run into so far were weak bug or grass types, like Oddish or Wurmple. Pokémon we weren't particularly interested in catching, so we would usually leave them alone. We tended to come across a particularly agressive Pokémon every now and then, which wasn't entirely bad as we did use the opportunity as training for our upcoming gym battle. But even then, they were never anything special and would generally be taken down in about two or three hits.

As the hours passed, I began to grow annoyed. Pawniard and I had been walking for the better part of the day, and not once had we seen a Pokémon that we were even remotely interested in adding to our team. Sure, we still had at least another day to get to Contival City, but based off of the types of Pokémon I'd seen today, I had already begun to lose any faith I had that Riverside Path contained any interesting Pokémon, and I could tell Pawniard was, too. Just from seeing the way he dragged his feet as we walked, I could tell he had clearly grown bored of fighting all the weak Pokémon we had encountered today.

It was time to change things up a little. For both our sakes.

"Hey, Pawniard?" Pawniard stopped and turned to look at me.

"I don't think we're gonna get much more than we've already seen here," I said, then pointed towards the forest to my left. "Let's go deeper. There has to be something stronger that way."

I'm pretty sure Pawniard only heard the word "stronger," but it didn't matter. His expression brightened up a little as he nodded and began to lead the way off the dirt path and deeper into the forest towards the next one.

As we cut through the forest to get to the next path over, the forest began to grow thicker, blocking out more of the sunlight and making our surroundings a little darker. Pawniard and I had already spent a good part of the day looking for Pokémon, and I wasn't planning on spending the night this deep in the forest. Hopefully we'd find something quick, and be in and out soon.

The two of us kept our eyes open for any Pokémon that seemed stronger than the ones we faced earlier. But unlike before, where we could look up and see a Pidgey or Caterpie every other tree, it seemed that now we would be lucky to spot just one.

As I secretly hoped this wouldn't turn out to be a huge waste of time, my foot caught on something and I stumbled to the ground. Cursing as I got up, I looked to see that Pawniard was already at my side. But instead of looking to see if I was ok, like usual, he was instead staring at the spot I had tripped. I followed his gaze, and my eyes fell on a Kakuna lying on the ground.

Growing agitated now, I began to head back in the direction we came. "Let's go, Pawniard," I called behind me. "Looks like this was a waste of time after all. Let's head back and get ready for the night. The sun will be setting soon."

I took a few more steps, then realized Pawniard wasn't following me. Instead, he was still standing by the Kakuna, inspecting it. He looked up at me and motioned for me to come back to him. I sighed and walked back over.

"Pawniard, seriously. It's a Kakuna. We saw dozens back over-" I stopped talking as I got closer to the Kakuna, and realized what it was that had caught Pawniard's attention. What I thought at first was a Kakuna, was in fact just a cracked open husk.

My first thought was that it had evolved, and there was now a giant Beedrill flying around nearby. But as I looked at the shell, I remembered something Professor Goji had once told me about Kakuna's evolutionary habits. When it evolves, the shell cracks open, like this one, and the newly evolved Beedrill comes out, leaving no trace behind except for the shell of it's former self. But looking at this shell, it was clear that wasn't what had happened here. As I looked inside, it looked like there were still bits of bug left. Kakuna hadn't broken out of it's shell. Something had attacked and broken in.

Maybe this hadn't been a huge waste of time after all.

"Pawniard!" I looked up to see Pawniard had moved from my side. His attention was now caught by a certain tree, which I noticed had a decent sized slash mark in the bark. Whatever Pokémon had attacked the Kakuna wasn't just coming around looking for a snack. It looked like it lived here. And judging by the slash marks, it was very territorial.

Pawniard raised his arm and slashed just below it, then stepped back to compare the marks. His was decently smaller. He looked to me, and I could tell he wanted my opinion.

I smiled. "Don't worry. You'll get there in no time. And yours wi-"

I was cut off as I felt something grab my shoulders, digging in with sharp claws, and slammed me into the tree. I dropped to the ground as my head ached and my legs gave way beneath me. As I scrambled to gather myself, head throbbing, I could hear the sounds of wings flapping, and I felt myself being lifted off of the ground.

"Shit! Shit! Pawniard!" I screamed, flailing my arms and trying unsuccessfully to strike at my attacker.

"Pawniard!" I heard a slashing sound, a pained caw, and felt my attacker release me from it's grasp. I fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of me from the impact.

As I struggled to regain my breath, taking in short, painful gasps of air, I could hear the flapping of wings and sharp metal slicing through the air as Pawniard went at it with our attacker. He could hold his own in a fight, that I knew, but not only did it have the drop on us, I had no idea what we were fighting.

The Pokedex! I reached into the pocket of my hoodie, thanking Arceus the Pokedex hadn't fallen out while I was getting tossed around like a ragdoll. I pointed it up towards where I heard the two fighting. A moment passed, and then I heard that familiar beep.

"Fearow, the Beak Pokémon," it stated.

I didn't listen to the rest of the description, instead focusing on trying to keep my head from splitting apart from the severe headache that the stupid bird had given me. But now that I knew what it was that attacked us, it would make it much easier to fight back.

I looked up at the battle. Fearow was flying high up into the air, way out of range of Pawniard's reach. Quickly, Fearow turned in mid-air and swooped back down towards Pawniard like a missile. Pawniard tried to use Slash at it as it passed, but Fearow was too fast, and using it's beak, it slashed at Pawniard before flying right back up again

As Fearow began to descend for another attack, I knew I had to do something. Pawniard wouldn't be able to take it on by itself, and if Fearow could exhaust him enough, it would be strong enough to carry him away.

"Pawniard, use Slash on its wings!" I yelled as Fearow descended again. As Fearow came low enough, Pawniard raised his blade and the two traded blows. I heard a screech as the Fearow crashed and tumbled onto the ground. As it struggled to get up, Pawniard rushed in for another attack, but as he got close, the Fearow lashed out with lightning fast speed and slammed Pawniard to the ground with its talons. It began to use it's bleak to attack Pawniard, using Peck over and over. Pawniard's metal body could take the hits, but it was only a matter of time until Fearow dealt the final blow.

"Pawniard, use Slash at it's legs! Get it off of you!" I yelled.

Fearow screeched in pain as Pawniard slashed away at the leg pinning him to the ground. It recoiled, bringing it's leg back away from Pawniard. It was only a moment, but a moment was all that Pawniard needed to get back to his feet. I didn't have the time to yell out a command, as in the heat of the moment Pawniard charged at the recoiling Fearow and struck out against it again. The attack hit, and Fearow recoiled even further.

"It's almost down," I yelled. "Finish it off! Metal Claw!"

I blinked, and Pawniard slammed into the ground a few feet in front of me.

"Quick Attack," I thought, kicking myself for allowing us to let our guards down this easily. I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself, however, as Fearow had grabbed Pawniard again, and had begun to fly straight up with him in it's talons.

"Damn it!" I yelled. "Pawniard, get free! Use Slash and get free!" I screamed desperately as Fearow flew higher and higher.

Fearow screeched as it's leg was slashed at by Pawniard and dropped him.

I ran over to where Pawniard had fallen to see if he was alright. It didn't look like he had taken much damage, and his armored body had protected him from the fall.

"Damn it!"

A trainer with blonde hair and a black denim jacket that looked like it had seen better days, burst out of the trees at the edge of the clearing, watching the Fearow fly away in disbelief. He started pacing back and forth, and kicked the ground out of anger. He stopped when he realized that he was being watched.

"You!" He yelled, pointing a finger as he marched up to us. "Did you scare that Fearow away?"

"I, w...what?" I sputtered out, caught off guard by this random newcomer. "It attacked us, so we-"

"I don't care! I've been following that thing for the past hour! I almost had it before you got involved!" He stuck his finger in my face. "You owe me for this. You aren't gonna interfere and get off scott free."

"You're a trainer, right?" He asked, looking at Pawniard. "And you only have one Pokémon? You just started your journey, didn't you? Ha! You're a noob!"

I felt my face get hot with embarrassment. "My name is Aaron," I said, trying to sound intimidating.

"Cool. Name's Pierce. I'm gonna keep calling you noob, it fit's better. Trust me."

Prick.

"You say there's nothing interesting in this route, but I've already seen a few Pokémon that are pretty unique around here," Pierce said. "Hell, I've already caught something. A little weak, but it's got potential."

He grabbed one of the three Pokeballs clipped to his belt, and held it out.

"And you're gonna help me train it. We're battling. Right here, right now."

I was hesitant about getting into a battle so quickly after the fight with Fearow, but Pawniard stepped in between me and Pierce and began to stare him down. I had to admit, I was a little impressed with him. He had just tussled with a tough flying type and was already ready to fight again.

"Fine. Let's battle," I said, meeting Pierce's eyes. I hoped I looked as fierce as Pawniard did right now.

Pierce chuckled, and threw the Pokeball into the air. "Kick his ass, Pineco!"

There was a moment where neither me nor Pierce gave a command, letting our Pokémon size each other up. I could feel the pressure of my first trainer battle. I knew that this would be different than fighting all those wild Pokémon before. And despite the fact that the guy I was battling was kind of a prick, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't excited."

Pierce started first.

"Pineco, use Tackle!"

Pineco leaped forward from where it sat, aiming to ram itself into Pawniard. Unfortunately for Pierce, Pineco wasn't a very fast Pokémon, and Pawniard had no trouble dodging the attack.

"Pawniard, use Fury Cutter!"

Pawniard dashed towards Pineco, much faster than his foe, and struck out with both of his bladed hands towards the small bug type. Pineco still hadn't recovered from it's previous attack and wouldn't be able to brace itself to take the hit.

"Don't turn around, Pineco," Pierce yelled. "Just use Protect!"

Pawniard's attack was stopped short as it struck the barrier between him and Pineco, a split second before the attack would have landed. Pineco turned around to face an annoyed Pawniard.

"Now, Take Down!" Pierce yelled.

As soon as the barrier dropped, Pineco leaped straight towards Pawniard and slammed into him at full force. It was a little faster than the previous attack, so Pawniard was caught off guard. But now Pineco was close enough for a counter attack.

"Pawniard, Fury Cutter, now!"

Not wasting a moment, Pawniard slashed at Pineco, hitting it right after it had finished it's attack. Surprised at the quick recovery of it's opponent, Pineco froze for a moment, leaving it vulnerable as Pawniard continued his barrage of slashes.

"Don't let him bully you, Pineco! Hit him back, use Take Down!" Pierce yelled.

But Pawniard expected it this time. As Pineco leaped forward again, Pawniard stopped his attack and sidestepped out of the way, letting Pineco sail past without hitting it's target. As soon as Pineco landed, it's back once again towards Pawniard, he turned and continued his attack. It only took a couple more slashes, and Pineco toppled over, fainted.

Pawniard stopped to make sure Pineco was really down for the count. Then, after a moment, he turned and looked towards me, a cheery and triumphant look on his face.

He ran towards me and did a little dance, happy with his first real victory.

"Good job, Pawniard!" I said, congratulating him and giving him a pat on the head. "You looked great out there!"

"Are you kidding me?"

Pawniard and I stopped celebrating, our attention once again turned towards Pierce, who was busy screaming at his Pokémon.

"What the hell was that? How could you not win? He's never even battled before and he just got his ass kicked by a Fearow! I caught you because I thought you'd evolve into something I could use, but I can't evolve you if you can't fight! You're useless!" Pierce threw his hands up in the air, fury in his eyes. I could see his poor Pineco shrink back in shame and embarrassment with every word Pierce threw his way.

"Pawniard!"

Pierce stopped screaming and looked over at me and Pawniard, as if he had just remembered that the two of us were still standing there.

Pawniard clearly wasn't happy with the way Pierce was treating Pineco, and he wasn't afraid to show it. He kept shouting at Pierce, who clearly wasn't too happy at getting scolded.

"Control your Pokémon," Pierce said coldly, staring daggers at me. "Before I do it for you."

A shiver went down my spine as he said those words. Despite us being victorious, Pierce was still very intimidating. But that feeling was only for a moment, before I got pissed when it hit me that he had just threatened Pawniard.

"Maybe you shouldn't treat your Pokémon like shit," I shot back. "Then they might do better in battle."

Pierce looked surprised, probably shocked that a rookie trainer would talk back to him like that. But he was only like that for a second, before his face shifted back to anger.

"You think I don't know how to train my Pokémon?" He asked. He grabbed one of the other two Pokeballs off of his belt and released the Pokémon inside. I felt my body go cold as his Hitmonlee formed in front of us. It looked every bit as mean as it's trainer.

"Hitmonlee, show these punks how tough I've trained you," Pierce said, pointing at us. "Use Mega Kick!"

I watched, fear taking me over, as Hitmonlee's leg began to glow white with energy. Pawniard braced himself, but even I could see that he was intimidated by our new opponent.

"Pawniard, dodge! Now!" I screamed.

Pawniard barely had enough time to take one step to the right before Hitmonlee struck out with it's foot with lightning fast speed. Pawniard went flying back with extreme force, slamming into a tree so hard I heard the wood splinter, and could see a large dent where Pawniard had hit it. Pawniard dropped to the ground, unconcious. He probably had been out before he had even hit the tree.

I turned back to Pierce, both him and his Hitmonlee staring straight at me. I could feel my heart racing in my chest, cold sweat running down my face, fearing that I was next.

"Hitmonlee..." Pierce began to say, but before he could finish his command, a transparent barrier formed between the two of us.

I looked down at my feet and was surprised to see Pierce's Pineco there, trembling terribly, but protecting me with his Protect.

Pierce chuckled. "I guess trash recognizes trash," he said. He returned his Hitmonlee and threw Pineco's Pokeball at my feet.

"You seem to think you know how to train my Pokémon better than I can," He said. "So take it, noob. Pineco is useless to me anyway."

The two of us watched as Pierce walked away, and waited until he had disappeared among the the forest. I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding, and dropped to my knees, silently freaking out.

"Co?"

I looked over to see Pineco looking at me, worry in his eyes.

"I'm okay, thank you," I said, rubbing the top of his head. "Seriously, thank you."

I got up and rushed over to Pawniard. The little guy was still out cold, but he was breathing. The kick was strong, but his armor wasn't damaged as far as I could see, either. He would just need some rest for a little bit. And honestly, he deserved it.

"We should get out of here," I said, picking Pawniard up and turning to Pineco. "I'm gonna return you now, but I'll let you out when we get back to wherever we set up camp tonight, ok?"

Pineco rocked his body forward and back, which I assumed was him doing his best to give me a nod, and I returned him to his Pokeball.

As I walked out of the deeper part of the route and back towards the way we came, I could feel the frustration rising inside of me. The frustration of not being able to do anything when Hitmonlee had come out. The anger that Pierce had taken advantage of us, knowing we'd be powerless to fight back, and hurting Pawniard.

It was as I was walking out of that clearing, my unconscious partner in my arms, that I had formed a new goal along my journey to become Champion. I was going to train both Pawniard and Pineco, then I was going to kick Pierce's ass.


End file.
